Free
by SarahNicole98
Summary: Sequel to "Promise". It's been 8 years since Peach met Bowser and she hasn't seen him since. But when they are suddenly reunited under not-so-great conditions, will they be able to work together to save their kingdoms? BowserxPeach Friendship for now...
1. Prologue

Free

Prologue

16-year-old Princess Peach sat at her mirror, brushing her hair. She tied it up in a bun with a white ribbon and examined herself.

She had long, blonde hair and ocean-blue eyes. She was tall and lean, and over-all gorgeous.

Peach wore a short, pearl colored sundress with white flats with a pearl charm bracelet. She had 4 charms: One of a pink castle, one of a yellow crown, one of a blue mushroom, and one of an orange flame.

She stared down sadly at the flame. It reminded her of a friend she had once, 8 whole years ago, that she hadn't seen since. She missed him.

Peach stood from her bench and set down her brush. She sighed and walked out the door to her room and down the marble staircase to the front door of the castle. She started walking through the forest.

Thank god she wasn't required to have a guardian anymore. Now, she could walk freely around the castle and kingdom on her own.

Walking out of the forest trees, Peach stopped in a large clearing. The grass was dark, but no longer tall and wild. Some while ago it had been trimmed, and it had not reached its tallest height yet.

Sitting down on the grass at the edge of the woods, Peach let a tear trail down her cheek. She remembered this place; its name and appearance were permanent in her mind.

Night Meadow.

The place she met him.

With a shaky voice, much like the one she used that day, she let herself say his peculiar name.

"Bowser…"

She let the tears fall, one by one, fast and free.

Seeing as how her eyes were filled with quickly reproducing tears, and she was looking down at her knees, Peach couldn't very well see anyone around her.

She didn't see the figure in the shadow of the trees opposite her, which backed away slowly, tears falling from his glowing red eyes…


	2. Chapter 1: New King

Ok, first of all I'd like to say that I'm making a soundtrack for this series which can be found on my profile. If you think of a song, tell me!!! R&R please!

Free

Chapter 1: New King

When Peach returned to the palace, her eyes were red from crying and her hands shook. Her dress was stained by grass and her hair had fallen out of its bun to layer across her delicate face.

She rushed up to her bedroom and washed her face in her bathroom. When she looked as normal as possible, she changed into a soft short-sleeved yellow dress that went to her shins with a pink star on the chest and pink flats. She studied her bracelet once more before taking it off and putting it on her dresser. If she continued to look at it, she'd cry again.

Going back downstairs, she went to the kitchen. In the fridge was an apple, which she grabbed out of the fruit drawer and bit into with eagerness. She hadn't eaten yet this morning and she was starving.

As she sat down at the little kitchen table, toad chefs gradually started piling in, starting to prepare her and her father's dinner. She asked one of them what they were making.

"Roasted Cheep Cheep, Piranha plant salad, and Ice cream Luma Cake." He said, and went back to cooking.

Suddenly not feeling very hungry, Peach left the kitchen and went back upstairs. She laid down on her bed and watched the clouds roll by outside her window. She found shapes.

A hippo…

A flower…

A star…

A turtle---

Peach felt more tears welling in her eyes. She rolled over, her back to the window, and tried to fall asleep.

Eventually, she succeeded, and as sleep slowly overtook her, a small tear slid slowly, solitarily, down her porcelain cheek.

* * *

When Peach awoke the next morning, she was starving again, so she rushed downstairs to get some breakfast.

As she settled down to eat at the kitchen table, she felt much better than the night before.

"Princess! _Princess_! The king wishes to speak to you _immediately_!" A young toad maiden called to Peach as she finished her breakfast of pancakes and sausage.

She stood and followed her to her father's study. The maiden bowed and scrambled away, leaving Peach alone to knock on her father's door.

He opened it on the 3rd knock, and ushered Peach in.

"You wished to speak with me, Father?"

He nodded and motioned for her to take a seat on one of the love seats. She did, a bit nervous. Her father was acting strange.

"Peach, a new king has recently been appointed to a neighboring kingdom." He said slowly.

Peach was confused.

"So?"

The King rubbed his temple and sat down on the love seat across from his daughter.

"He wishes to meet with you and has asked to speak with you on a multiple of occasions."

This caused a bit of hope to form in the back of Peach's mind, saying it could be _him_, but she quickly silenced it. No point in getting her hopes up for nothing.

"Okay, so why haven't I been informed of this before?" She asked, finding it a bit suspicious. Her father sighed, frustrated.

"Sweetie, you don't understand." He croaked, his voice cracking with stress. "He's not… uh… he's not like…_US_…"

With each word, the hope grew in Peach's chest, and it was getting harder and harder to silence it. She asked one last question, one she hoped she knew the answer of.

"Which Kingdom?"

Her father looked at her, and with a quivering voice, replied.

"Peach, my dear, dear, daughter," He began, standing up once more.

"Have you ever heard of… the Darklands?"

* * *

**Hope you all enjoyed that! PLEASE review! Anyone can. Just click that little button down there, type up some praise, push submit, and BOOM! You've made an author VERY happy! SO DO IT!**


	3. Author's Note

Dear Readers,

Hi everyone. Look, I know I haven't updated in forever and your probably disappointed to see this, but I have to say something real quick.

I promise you I will not put this or any of my other stories on permanent hiatus.

They will be on hold for a while though.

Honestly, a lot has been going on lately. My family members are constantly in hospitals, not to mention I'm not in a very good writing mood at all. Every time I try to write, It ends up sounding stupid and amateur-ish and overall awful.

So sorry guys! I'll try to convince myself to start writing again, but don't hold your breath.

Sorry again!

- Sarah

PS, I might eventually start a new account to kinda start anew and stuff. If I do, I'll put a link in my profile, so keep an eye out.


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